Donatella Versace Crowns New Fashion Fringe Winners

Marked by unconventional cuts and an abundance of bare skin, the designs of newcomers Jenny Holmes and Dimitris Theocharidis took the prize at this year’s Fashion Fringe at Covent Garden, a London fashion week contest for young designers. Donatella Versace, chair of the event, crowned Ms. Holmes, 29, and Mr. Theocharidis, 31, after the pair’s catwalk show on Monday.

The winning, 12-piece collection combined exposed midriffs with voluminous Grecian-style draping in an aesthetic that conjured images of “I Dream of Jeannie” after an early-90s bender in industrial London. The pink had gone drab; grey had taken over; but the bare midriff, strapped top and draped modified-harem pants remained. The palette was all a slate-and-soot –- as if Jeannie had emerged in a new era, stained by the smoke of her bottle, her sense of style re-educated by a group of metal rockers in the intervening years.

The winners, who have named their label Jena Theo, played with negative space and unconventional fabrics like cashmere jersey and crepe silks. “We really challenged the fabrics we used,” Ms. Holmes said after the show, adding that the collection was particularly versatile because the pieces could be worn in a host of ways. Ms. Holmes and Mr. Theocharidis will receive £100,000 in funding and go on to show on the main catwalk at London fashion week next season.

Of the other Fashion Fringe finalists who revealed their designs at Monday’s event, Kazakhstan-born Yelena Smirnova was a particular standout, with a cerulean blue mini-dress that stole the show.

Some celebrities dropped by in a show of support for the young up-and-comers, including model Erin O’Connor and Nicola Roberts, a member of the U.K. pop group Girls Aloud, who sported 1940s-inspired tweed and a Vargas-girl hairstyle.